Writing multitasking-Clarisse without being super confusing is an ongoing challenge.
[8] Summarize Simona's intel on the witch and forward to Nanami.
-[8] Advise maximum exploitation of unlimited timestop.
[7] Update the IFF to label Simona and yellow!Clarisse as suspicious contacts of unknown origin
Other-Clarisse didn't say anything in particular about this being an Oriko ambush, so you're starting to relax. Besides, the ambush is less of a risk now that Homura's with Nanami. You'll focus on that.
Command Mode thread:
DIRECTIONS TO NAKAMURA NANAMI:
Witches are a threat until they're dead. If you don't have the grief seed in your hand, and if the labyrinth hasn't collapsed, assume the witch is playing dead and waiting to get you. Keep your distance, and abuse Homura's timestop to the maximum extent possible.
Discussion:
NAKAMURA NANAMI: Got it. No victory parties until we're home safe.
SHIZUKI CLARISSE: No parties, no dances. I don't want you coming home dead.
SHIZUKI CLARISSE has contacted SAKURA KYOUKO.
SAKURA KYOUKO has been advised of the risk of ambush / trap.
SHIZUKI CLARISSE has verified approximate location of SAKURA KYOUKO.
Location is very close to area of interest.
Tactical doctrine for railgun + timestop is still preferred, especially given mission risk profile.
Tactical doctrine for 3 magical girls in timestop is problematic.
Continue deployment as planned.
AKEMI HOMURA has rendezvoused with NAKAMURA NANAMI.
AKEMI HOMURA to activate timestop.
NAKAMURA NANAMI disconnected.
[8] Continue call with Kyouko.
Personal conversation thread: SAKURA KYOUKO
"Who izzit nans whaddaya want?"
"Kyouko-chan, it's me" you say. "I'm borrowing a friends' telephone for the moment."
"Oh," she replies, "whyzat?"
"Umm," you say awkwardly, "Ryouko and I are actually at a police station right now. It's better if there isn't any evidence of me making phone calls myself right now."
"Fair 'nuf!" she says. "That why you called?"
"One reason. The other is that a girl we know was visiting her boyfriend at the hospital and spotted a grief seed outside glowing ominously outside. Suffice it to say that the timing is very suspicious. We're worried it might be a trap, and I wanted to warn you to keep an eye out, in case there are any further surprises."
"Wait wait wait wait," says Kyouko. "This girl of yours wouldn't happen to have blue hair, would she?"
"Yes!" you say. "You can see her?"
"I'm hanging out in a pool on the roof," she says. "The view is sublime. Hey, you should come over and hang out."
"Maybe later," you say, "
really really busy. But thanks."
"So hold on," says Kyouko. "If she sees it, why isn't she sticking around and fighting the witch?"
"Well, Sayaka has potential, but she hasn't made a contract yet, and I'd prefer she didn't, to keep the strain on our grief seeds to a minimum."
"Huh," says Kyouko. "You
positive she hasn't? She was running, like, stupid fast."
"No, that's technology, not magic," you explain.
"Oh. Wait, what?"
Surveillance thread:
"It's all your god damn day drinking, Shiina," says the chief. "We've looked the other way for too damn long as it is."
"Chief!!" exclaims Mr. Shiina. "I haven't touched alcohol since my little girl—"
"Just get out of here," says the chief. "That's all we need from you right now."
"… all right," he says, sounding a little hurt.
"Now as for you, Mitsuhiro," says the chief.
"… Boss, uhh —" begins Mitsuhiro.
The door closes behind Mr. Shiina.
"You think the body by the creek is related to the explosion after all?" asks the chief.
"Of course," says the detective. "I don't understand why we decided to split the cases to begin with."
The chief sighs. "Mitsuhiro, you're pretty bright about most things, but you can be dumb as a rock about others."
"Sir?"
"You have a commendable sense of justice," says the chief. "It's mostly an asset. But sometimes things aren't as black and white as they ought to be. We don't want dead kids, yeah, but you know what else we don't want? Stories getting out to the press about
zombie schoolgirls that make us look like a bunch of incompetents, or worse, like woo-woo weirdoes who don't have their heads screwed on right. Now, obviously one of those problems is a lot more important, but you know what? If suddenly turns out there weren't actually three dead kids in our morgue after all, they're all happy and healthy? Ethical dilemma fucking
resolved."
"… You want me to just drop it, then," realizes the young detective.
"I expect you to drop it," he says, "and then, to keep your mouth shut."
"I don't know what to say," says Mitsuhiro.
"Perfect," says the chief.
"It comes with the line of work, kid," says his older partner. "You're not supposed to
like it. Best if you don't. But you get used to it."
"The department needs closure here," says the chief. "Finish the interviews, send the other dead girl home to her family, and follow up with the Americans, but if you don't find an actual bona fide explanation for how things went down, we're running with the gas leak story and re-opening the school on Monday."
"That girl didn't have a family," notes Ikari, "but I get the idea."
The young detective sighs. "It just doesn't seem right, sir," he opines.
"It's not," admits the chief. "But I'll put you on something else. Last night's shooting. Officer got into a gunfight, but his story's pretty fishy, and I can't figure out why he was even in the neighborhood to begin with.
That's the kind of weird I actually need you looking into."
"What about Shiina-san, then?" asks Mitsuhiro.
"Well, that's the silver lining, isn't it?" asks the chief. "I have a real nice excuse to get rid of him now if I ever need it."
"Chief!" exclaims Mitsuhiro. "That's — the man has a family, a mortgage…"
"Yeah," says the chief standing up, and heading to the door, "that's right, he's got that nice new house.
Real nice house. You should stop by some time, take a look, tell me what you think."
"Huh?" asks the detective, as the chief leaves the room.
"Speaking of which," says Detective Ikari, "how in hell did you find out about that school evacuation, anyway?"
"Huh? Oh. Social media," replies Mitsuhiro, distractedly. "Not that any of it
matters, I guess."
"Don't be like that," says Ikari.
"Sorry," he replies with an acid tone. "Guess I've got to go keep up appearances."
Command Mode thread:
NAKAMURA NANAMI connected.
NAKAMURA NANAMI and AKEMI HOMURA are at the site of incident.
Labyrinth is active.
Special instructions to NAKAMURA NANAMI:
Make sure it's dead!
NAKAMURA NANAMI confirms receipt of instructions. Remarks:
Okay, okay, I got it already.
NAKAMURA NANAMI is entering labyrinth.
NAKAMURA NANAMI disconnected.
Civilian interaction:
<Sayaka> Okay I'm going to stop running now
<Sayaka> Is that okay?
<Clarisse> That's fine, you're safe.
<Sayaka> OW MY LEGS
<Sayaka> I'm gonna sit down on a park bench
NAKAMURA NANAMI reconnected. Remarks:
Wow, Clarisse, I know you weren't kidding about it playing dead, but, you really weren't kidding about it playing dead.
But done. 100% dead. Labyrinth collapsed.
SHIZUKI CLARISSE proposes session termination. Remarks:
It looks like this crisis is over.
We can switch to less-urgent modes of communication.
COMMAND MODE deactivated.
<
Clarisse> That was fast. How's Homura?
<
Nanami> She's doing okay
<
Nanami> Refuses to take the grief seed
<
Nanami> DING DONG
<
Nanami> WITCH DED
<
Nanami> Victory dance on hold 'til later tho
<
Wakaba> Sweet!
<
Yuuka> yay!
<
Sayaka> Yeah good luck with that
<
Sayaka> the dance, I mean
<
Sayaka> my legs are jelly
<
Sayaka> I CLOCKED 43.8km/h RUNNING AWAY FROM A WITCH WHAT
<
Wakaba> whoa, that's insane
<
Madoka> congratulations!!
<
Sayaka> and Clarisse is still borrowing parts of my brain
<
Clarisse> I'll be done in a moment. I'm working on planning our meet-up for later.
<
Clarisse> And this part isn't technically in your brain, it's near your spine. There's not a lot of stuff actually in the brain itself. You need that space for the actual brain.
<
Sayaka> … okay that's really almost TMI somehow
<
Yuuka> Yeah, it's a little weird, but if you think about it, it's just anatomy.
<
Wakaba> oh, is
that what kids are calling it these days
<
Sayaka> bwuahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
<
Nanami> yow
<
Yuuka> what??
<
Yuuka> … i don't get it
<
Nanami> Don't worry about it, dear.
<
Clarisse> So I think we're mostly out of the woods with the police, at least as far as this interview is concerned, anyway. Ryouko is answering a few last questions now, then hopefully we're done. Learned some interesting things, will share at debrief. We should have some new faces if things work out there.
<
Madoka> New friends?
<
Clarisse> I suppose so, yes.
<
Madoka> Yay!!! <3
Personal conversation thread:
"Please don't share this with anyone," you instruct Kyouko, and go on to explain that yes, there are a number of cyborg middle schoolers in town now.
"That's really freaky," opines Kyouko.
"No…
really freaky would be modifying her metabolism to run directly off of hydrocarbons," you opine. "Any of them would be a perfectly normal teen girl in the twenty-fifth century; Sayaka just has a reliable way to push her body to its absolute limit in an emergency."
"It's freaky
enough," says Kyouko.
"You should meet everybody," you suggest. You need to get her used to the idea that these girls are normal, or there's bound to be trouble. "We were already planning a get-together somewhere this afternoon. Perhaps we can have Mami-san come too, and you can meet everybody."
She considers that a moment.
"Well, okay, baby," she says, in a playful, overtly flirtatious tone. "I'll come meet all your friends as long as we can get a few minutes to ourselves afterwards, alright?"
"Uh … uhm… yeah, that'd be p-perfect," you say. "Maybe somewhere near downtown, a quiet corner of the p-park or something."
"That sounds alright. And — just wanted to say, I didn't mean anything callin' anyone
freaky. I mean, I can be a pretty freaky girl myself, y'know."
"Oh, I know," you say, thinking back to a certain book. "Believe me..."
What have you gotten yourself into?
"All righty then," says Kyouko. "I'll be hangin' around. Call me!"
"S-sure thing," you say.
The crisis appears to be winding down. Mitsuhiro is asking Ryouko the same questions he was asking the other girls, and while he's being thorough, you can tell that his heart's not in this anymore. You may as well take the opportunity to catch up on a few things.
(from earlier
[6] Ask Madoka about her dreams
<
Clarisse> Hey Madoka, good morning.
<
Madoka> Hi Clarisse!!!
<3 <3 <3
<
Madoka> What's up?
<
Clarisse> Oh, just checking in!
<
Clarisse> Did you sleep well last night?
<
Madoka> Yeah, I had a kinda weird dream
<
Clarisse> Oh?
<
Clarisse> What happened?
<
Madoka> Well… it's a little hard to remember :S
<
Madoka> I think I was out walking with you and Hitomi, but I forget what we were doing.
<
Madoka> Oh! That's right! We were in the mall and saw a candy store. I found a special kind of marshmallows that were strawberries-and-cream flavor, and for some reason Hitomi thought that was really funny and couldn't stop laughing.
<
Madoka> Anyway, that's all I remember.
<
Clarisse> I see.
(This is another small fib.)
[6] Tell Madoka she can set up dream recording
<
Clarisse> You know, if you'd like to, you can record your dreams
<
Clarisse> Let me know if you'd like me to show you how
<
Madoka> Oh, really?? That's super cool!!!
<
Madoka> Thanks, Clarisse!!!
<3 <3 <3
<
Clarisse> You're welcome.
<
Madoka>
Ryouko's interview is essentially finished. Mitsuhiro packs up the evidence box and his notes. He's doing an okayish job at hiding his ongoing disgust, but it's leaking out here and there.
You're reviewing the surveillance from before with Ryouko.
Did the chief really say three dead kids? you ask her, rhetorically.
Who's the third? I thought he might have meant Sayaka for a moment, but she was supposedly just missing. They wouldn't lie about a thing like that to her family, would they?
I hope not! says Ryouko.
That would be really weird.
We have to remember that we're dealing with twenty-first century ethics here, though, you remark in a resigned tone.
This isn't Governance by a long shot.
Ryouko frowns internally.
It also looks like the chief has it out for Officer Shiina.
Yeah. I'm not quite sure what that was about.
You send a private message to Machina, in any event, letting her know to expect them to let Mami go soon.
If she's not against it, you say,
we'll introduce you and her to the group along with Kyouko. It should help her feel a little more normal.
Yesyesyesyesyes, says Machina.
She could use a nice cup of tea with some friends.
Detective Mitsuhiro leaves the evidence box and his notes with Officer Shiina.
The chief, meanwhile, has taken a moment to thank Papa for his time.
"Looks like it went a lot more smoothly than we thought," he says, with a big fat grin on his face. You don't get the impression that Papa is really feeling it, though.
"Oh," says Papa with a small smile, "is that what passes for going
smoothly around here? I see."
Ryouko sits down politely next to Hitomi.
[9] Share this little experience with Ryouko
So now that you're sitting down again, there's something that you ought to see, you tell her, and send her a memory record.
What's this now? she asks.
Bad news, I think, you tell her as she opens it.
Her eyes go wide, externally. You look around to check if the police noticed, but he's quite distracted, caught somewhere between backpedaling and further attempts at brown-nosing. You're really not quite sure what to make of his pattern of interaction. It's strange; this is the guy they put in charge of the police?
What's getting to Ryouko? asks Hitomi, who
has noticed her expression.
I just found another complication to her life, you say.
It occurs to you that Hitomi might have experience with unwanted attention. Maybe she could have something to say about it later. Or maybe this is just on another level…
I don't have the words, says Ryouko as she reaches the end
… Clarisse, this is really bad. I thought maybe Kyouko was exaggerating … that maybe it could be Oriko trying to trick us all again somehow. She shudders.
I agree, you tell her.
it's rather disturbing.
I don't want to be enemies with Simona, Ryouko says.
We were friends. Clarisse, what can we even do? Simona needs to talk to the … MHD, she adds, realizing as she verbalizes it internally that the MHD doesn't even exist right now. And she's wondering if there's something she could have done, should have done, should have
noticed, and she's very near to blaming herself for this turn of events.
> bless Ryouko's poor little heart
[ ] (
write in immediate advice for Ryouko)
going to try to make you questers do some work here :b
You will soon have a little time before the group expects to assemble.
[ ] Head home first.
-[ ] Talk with Papa and Ryouko about Simona
-[ ] Talk with Mama about these things
[ ] Head directly downtown from here
-[ ] Ask Papa for a little spending money
-[ ] Talk with Hitomi about unwanted romantic attention
-[ ] Ask Madoka to come early, talk about relationship advice
--[ ] use the ribbon on her again in search of insight
Private conversations:
[ ] Reassure Nanami by talking about future meddling with her wish
[ ] Warn Yuuka that her father might be at risk of losing his job
Outing plans:
[ ] Find a quiet spot in the park
[ ] Cancel park outing in favor of pool party with Kyouko
[ ] (other plan)
[ ] Introduce Kyouko, Mami and Machina to the entire group all at once
[ ] Get Ryouko and Kyouko to greet Mami first
[ ] (write in some other strategy)
